List of extraordinary circumstances for flight delays — full breakdown
The full list of extraordinary circumstances that release an airline from paying flight delay compensation, and the list of causes that do not. With the Court of Justice rulings behind each one.
EU261 is built so that compensation is owed by default — the airline must pay unless it proves “extraordinary circumstances”. The burden of proof sits with the carrier, not with you. That is the single most useful thing to understand: you do not have to explain why you are entitled. The airline has to explain why you are not.
The full list is short, and most refusals cite something that is not on it.
| Cause of the delay | Extraordinary? | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| Dangerous weather | Yes | Not owed |
| Air traffic control strike | Yes | Not owed |
| Airspace closure | Yes | Not owed |
| Security threat, terminal evacuation | Yes | Not owed |
| Bird strike | Yes | Not owed |
| Medical emergency on board | Yes | Not owed |
| Technical fault | No | Owed |
| Strike by the airline’s own staff | No | Owed |
| Crew shortage, scheduling problems | No | Owed |
| Late inbound aircraft | No | Owed |
| Overbooking | No | Owed |
| No spare aircraft available | No | Owed |
What does release the carrier
- Dangerous weather — storms, icing, fog closing the runway, severe wind
- Air traffic control strikes or airport-wide industrial action by third parties
- Airspace closures for political or military reasons
- Security requirements — a terminal evacuation, for example
- Bird strikes — settled by the Court of Justice in Pešková (C-315/15)
What does NOT release it — compensation is due
- Technical faults, even sudden ones. In Wallentin-Hermann (C-549/07) and van der Lans (C-257/14) the Court held that breakdowns are inherent in normal operations and the carrier bears that risk
- Strikes by the airline’s own staff — Krüsemann (C-195/17)
- Scheduling problems, crew shortages, a late inbound aircraft
- Overbooking — a deliberate commercial decision
- No spare aircraft — planning reserves is the carrier’s job
Where refusals fall apart
According to the AirHelp report, roughly 52% of airline rejections turn out to be unjustified. The most common pattern is citing weather. You can test that indirectly: if other flights left the same airport around the same time, a weather defence looks thin. Historic meteorological data and actual departure records are public, and specialist claim services use exactly that.
The second stock phrase is “technical reasons beyond our control”. On its own it means nothing: under settled case law a technical fault is almost always the carrier’s responsibility, and such a refusal is worth challenging.
The knock-on argument
If your delay was caused by the same aircraft running late on an earlier rotation, airlines sometimes try to carry an extraordinary circumstance from several flights back onto yours. The Court treats this with caution: the carrier must show it took all reasonable measures to stop the consequences reaching later flights.
The fee is deducted only from the compensation recovered. No payout — no fee.